Cultural Observation Project:
Assessment Paper Assignment
YOUT 201-Section # B02-202230
Name: RAY STONE a severe disabled wheelchair veteran
Location of Observation: WALMART Superstore, Mount Dora, FL
OBSERVATION:
In my arrival at the Leesburg Walmart, I found an local older gentleman that was willing to
bring me and me drop me off at around one o’clock in the afternoon. I had intended to stay about
an hour and thirty minutes, but after more than 5 hours I saw absolutely no teens or children at
all entering the store. The reason is mainly due to this is somewhat of a rural area and is mostly
retirees and 55+ communities all around this area where I live. After searching I was able to
arrange with one of the employees “Dave”, who happen to be leaving work and was willing to
give me a ride to another Walmart that was near his home and was about thirty miles away in
Mount Dora.
Upon arriving at the Mount Dora Walmart about seven P.M. I noticed that the parking lot was
fairly full of vehicles and had a considerably more people going in and out of the store, including
families, teens, young adults, etc. In particular, I had personally witnessed several teens who
were what appeared to be giving their families a really hard time, where they were arguing and
yelling at their elders, assuming they were their parents. This was even before going into the
store, where I had noticed absolute total disrespect of the younger kids to their parents or/and
their elders. One teenage girl had thrown a water or soda bottle at her father and hit his head
while literally screaming foul obscenities at him.
Since it has been so hot here in Florida then, and being in a wheelchair, I had to go inside out of
the heat, once inside I stopped and said a prayer, then continued to mingle through the store for
about three hours while it was fairly busy store. I observed many different types of children,
most were either part of a group or their families and saw none that were alone.
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Since it is really hot and humid here in Florida, I noticed several teens wearing clothing and
showing more skin that should be allowed in public, even as the parents allowed them to even be
caught in public dressed way. Then there was a group of three girls and two boys all dressed in
black and they had nose piercings and black makeup on, including the boys as they were looking
for attention. While they were walking around, I observed them putting a lot of items off the
shelves into their pockets, then later on would take the items out of their pockets and throw them
at people, then laugh about it. The behaviors were one of disrespect and “I do not care” attitudes,
which is so very sad.
Then wheeling around the pet toy section, I came across a family who was dressed
conservatively and what appeared to be their teen son and daughter and a small toddler were
shopping and noticed that the shirts they were all wearing had Christian sayings on them. But the
teens were not paying attention as they were on their cell phones and not looking where they
were going as the girl walked literally walked into an elderly lady in a scooter, yelling at the
older lady telling her to look where she was going. The elderly lady looked at the mother and
said she would pray for her daughter and that she needs to read and live by what her shirt said.
Wearing a shirt that says, “I can do all things through Christ” and the son’s shirt had a picture of
the Pope on it.
Then I started observing how the teens acted in the clothing section in particular and noticed
what I expected to see. Many of the teen girls what try clothes and then come out and toss them
on the floor or on a pile of clothes, they all expected someone else to pick up their mess that they
caused, no respect. Where a few of the teen boys I saw just found what they wanted and tossed
the items in the cart without trying them on. One of the grossest acts I have ever seen occurred
right in front of me when a young black teen took a shirt off the rack, looked at it and then blew
er nose on it, then hung it back up on the rack. So, I decided to follow her more and she took a
pair of panties from the hanger and wearing a dress, took off the panties she had on and hung
them on the rack while putting the new ones on right in the aisle and did not care if anyone saw
her doing this. It is no wonder why our youth are the way they are as they are not being taught
properly. Then I had to find a ride home which took me until after midnight before I got home
and had to deal with some medical issues which caused my delay in submitting this paper.
RESPONSE:
In all of my years observing and working with children of many ages, I have noticed a very
obvious downward trend of lack of respect and many of the teens are crying out for love and
affection as the parents are too wrapped up in their own issues ad work trying to provide for the
family. The one main ingredient for all this is God and His word are certainly missing from the
picture. Many parents wonder why their children are the way they are, and the answer has and
will always be right in front of them, and that is God! It is a very simple decision to make, but
many do not want to take the hard road, they opt for the easy way, that is the way of lies and the
deceptions of Satan. The Church really needs to step up the program for families, to include
encouraging families to be an active part of the church, teaching their children strong moral
values, respect and what overall righteousness should be. But these ideas all start in the home,
where parents need to take a much more active role in their children’s lives. Parents to parent and
refuse to allow the worldly influences and the socialist public-school systems to not indoctrinate
our kids with so many lies and falsehoods.
I have observed that all of the Vacation Bible Study programs in these areas are lacking what the
purpose of the VBS is about and that is to actually focus on God, Jesus and the Bible. The church
are developing these VBS programs to make money and lure kids in their programs with
promises of fun activities, by being a fun babysitting club. Where is God and the Bible in all
this? I have called out many churches and they all blow me off, saying they can’t afford to teach
the Bible to the kids. My response is “WHAT, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Our futures all depend
on teaching youth the truth as written in the Bible.” All of this can be resolved and placed on the
right path by creating a unified front that the children can see that sets an example for them to
follow. Basically, to be successful, trust and to have complete faith in the Holy Spirit to lead and
guide you, it is a must to create a unified team between the church and parents that places
teaching the Bible and how to live a righteous life as the number one priority!
I am much older and more experienced than most of the students in this program and I have
volunteered for years with youth in a youth bowling program that was Bible based along with a
Boy Scout leader before they became “woke”. So, when it comes to observing teens, I have been
watching them interact with other teens and their families and notice the rapid degradation of the
values within the family to a point it is at now and hard to see that there is anyway to save our
youth from evil and rebuild the family. Except to have a strong faith and trust in God to turn
things around and change the hearts and minds of children who want to learn the ways of the
Lord and allow or accept the Holy Spirit to guide our children and the parents properly.
Another long shot is that all Christians in the churches need to set and show examples for the
children to follow. My impression in all of this is that parents need to show they care about the
health and welfare of their children instead of pawning them off to a school to teach them the
wrong and immoral values. Jesus said in Matt. 18:6 (ESV) “but whoever causes one of these
little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened
around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” This scripture is saying that as a
parent you are tasked to teach your children not to sin, or else face the consequences.
In summary, my thoughts are that the world has totally captured and deceived both the hearts and
minds of our children and many parents as they are the ones that are allowing all of this immoral
and offensive behaviors to occur and are not doing enough to stop any of this from occurring.
Children are our future and our most valuable gift to be treasured, being taught value and
purpose of discipline and how to sincerely show love and respect. I can’t be more direct than I
have as the observation has triggered my passionate heart to speak out on these subjects on how
to glorify God.
INTEGRITY STATEMENT:
I, Ray Stone, at first I went to the Walmart Superstore in Leesburg and after five hours I was not
able to observe any teens as there were none as it is manly a retirement area. So, I sought out to
find someone to take me to another Walmart superstore in Mount Dora, FL on May 30, 2022 by
myself and followed all the necessary instructions.
